To those of us who became fans of the journeyman forward John Scott when he was elected captain of the Pacific Division All Star Team despite fierce opposition of the NHL and his now former team, the Arizona Coyotes, this weekend was everything you could have wanted.
Scott was in the game, participated in all of the events and looked like he was having a marvelous time. Then came the event itself. Scott, who only had five goals in his entire career, scored two goals in the semi-final against the favored Central Division in the 3-on-3 tournament. Scott got in a nice dig at Jeremy Roenick when the former Blackhawk was interviewing him, talking about being a worthy All Star after all.
The funniest moment happened after Scott sent Blackhawk star Patrick Kane flying on a check; the goalie stopped the break and started one toward the other end. Kane ended up scoring a goal and then the 5-11 Kane threw down his stick and gloves and went after the 6-8 Scott. All was ion fun with Scott patting Kane on the head and the “combatants” and linesman laughing.
The Pacific Division defeated Kane’s division then faced the Atlantic Division, captained by Jaromir Jagr. The offensive display suddenly became defensive as the players were now playing for USD1 million. The Pacific ended up winning 1-0 which earned each of the 11 players $90,909 each before taxes, but it still got better for Scott. The fans could vote for MVP through Twitter and they did, electing Scott MVP. It was awesome seeing NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman giving Scott the award and truck that the winner got. Bettman was “smiling” but it looked more like gas or perhaps someone had rammed a large rod up his ass. Considering the NHL’s horrendous actions in this case, he deserved it.
So, back to the AHL goes John Scott. His wife, pregnant with twins is scheduled to be induced in a couple of days and the Montreal Canadiens, Scott’s new team, is giving him time to be with his family. Overall, John Scott represented every player who doesn’t have the greatest skills, but plays with the gifts he’s been given. On this weekend, he was every bit the All Star and it became an All Star Weekend that many of us won’t forget.

If you look up sports cheating in the dictionary, one is more likely than not to see cycling as the epitome of dishonesty. With Lance Armstrong as the leader in wins and taking performance enhancing drugs, cycling is in many ways more of a joke than ever, but leave it to some ingenious racers to come up with a new way to cheat.
Bryan Cookson, the President of the International Cycling Union (ICU), in effect the sport’s top official confirmed the first top-level case of “technological fraud” with a hidden motor being found on a Belgian cyclist’s bike. The motor was discovered inside the frame of the machine being used by teenager Femke Van den Driessche at the world cyclo-cross championship in Zolder, Belgium, Cookson told reporters, “It’s absolutely clear that there was technological fraud. There was a concealed motor. I don’t think there are any secrets about that.”
The 19-year-old Van den Driessche denied suggestions she had deliberately used a motorized bike in the women’s under-23 race and was in tears as she told Belgian TV channel Sporza: “The bike was not mine. I would never cheat.” Van den Driessche said the bike looked identical to hers but belonged to her friend and that a team mechanic had given it her by mistake before the race. The bike was later seized after she had withdrawn from the race on Saturday with a mechanical problem.
If this isn’t the final nail in the coffin of big time cycling, I don’t know what is. With cyclists willing to inject themselves with all manner of drugs to penal faster than anyone else, isn’t it likely that someone would find a way to smuggle a motor onto a bike? Of course, the ICU will conduct an investigation, and someone will pay, either Ms. Van den Driessche or others. If she’s innocent, I hope she gets to ride again. If not, well, let the punishment fit the crime, I guess.
All I know is – cycling has become like professional wrestling: an exhibition, not a sport.

First off, professional sports all star games suck.
They are “exhibitions” – mainly of superstars showing their offensive prowess. The games are for fans to vote on their favorites and then for casual fans who know little to nothing in the sport to watch the aberration of a true game. To some, its fun, but to hard core fans, it’s a waste of time.
This weekend’s NHL All Star Game is no different. Some fans: Arizona Coyote fans; other fans who see through the sham of the voting and game; and some who wanted to make a point that fighting is a necessary part of the game; voted in droves to not only elect Arizona tough guy John Scott to the game, but generated enough votes to make him a captain.
The NHL is at fault – they were so proud of themselves that they turned the All Star Game into a 3-on-3 tournament, they allowed the fans to vote for any player in the league, and the fans spoke loud and clear to the league.
At first, I was going to blast the “know nothing” fans who did this, but as someone explained, the reasons were the ones listed above. I couldn’t argue with the logic: the All star voting is a popularity contest meaning not much, and I am old school believing that fighting does have a place in the game. The final blow was learning more about John Scott the person and the player and how the league and the Coyotes treated him as a result of the vote.
Scott wrote an article for The Players Tribune where he admitted that while he wasn’t one of the game’s stars, he was voted in and the efforts to get him to quit made him more resolute to play. When it was obvious that the voting for Scott was becoming overwhelming, the league encouraged Scott to try and stop it. “They (the NHL) didn’t mince words — This is not a game for you, John — but I understood all the same,” Scott wrote. “Honestly, on some level, I agreed. In the beginning, at least, I just wanted the entire thing to go away. So when they asked me to make a statement — nudging the fan vote in another direction and denouncing the John Scott ‘movement’ — I did it without hesitation,” he added. “I told the fans, ‘Listen. I don’t deserve this. Vote for my teammates.’ And I was telling the truth.”
Scott, 33, is a career journeyman enforcer having played for Minnesota, Chicago, the New York Rangers, Buffalo, San Jose and Arizona. He played in a career-high 56 games with the Sabres two years ago and scored a career-high three goals last season with the Sharks. Scott hasn’t averaged double digits in ice time during an NHL season. He has scored just five goals since his NHL debut in 2009.
The article (which I recommend hockey fans to read) details Scott’s hockey career, playing in college, and his journey into becoming an NHL enforcer. He discussed meeting his future wife in college and them giving hockey three years to become a career and if it didn’t happen for them, he would give up and put his degree to work. Scott wrote that he wasn’t in “a real hockey fight” until he was 23. He embraced dropping his gloves during his third year in the AHL after finding out he was good at fighting and that it fired up his teammates. “I stuck around,” Scott wrote. “My wife and I had to move all across the country, year after year. But I stayed in the NHL, by any means necessary. It is not easy.”
The article showed the pettiness of the NHL when they tried to talk him out of playing in the game. According to Scott, someone with the NHL asked him: “Do you think this is something your kids would be proud of?” Scott, who has two daughters, said that moment strengthened his resolve to play in the 3-on-3 format with some of the best hockey players in the world. “Because, while I may not deserve to be an NHL All-Star, I know I deserve to be the judge of what my kids will — and won’t — be proud of me for.”
When it was obvious that Scott was going to play, Arizona stunned the Scott family by trading him to Eastern Conference Montreal, which would preclude him from playing for the Western Conference. To show that this wasn’t exactly a trade for need, the Canadiens immediately sent him to its AHL affiliate in Newfoundland. It doesn’t help that he is expected to move his family while his wife is nine-months pregnant with twins. It took a statement from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to settle the issue – there was no way that Scott wouldn’t play in the game.
Scott said it very well in his article: “but while I don’t deserve to be an All-Star, I also don’t think I deserve to be treated like I’ve been by the league throughout this saga. I’m an NHL player — and, whatever my set of skills may be, that I’m an NHL player is no accident.”
So, rather than avoiding the All Star Game like the plague. I will try and watch at least a little bit. As the father f two girls myself, last summer when I was in a play, one of the best feelings was seeing my girls pride in seeing their dad on a stage acting; Scott says that his girls are hockey fans and proud of their daddy, as well they should be.
I admit that I kidded about Scott when he was on the Blackhawks and when I watched him on other teams, but this article reminded me of something that I know but need to be reminded of: these guys are human beings. They have feelings; they know where they fit in the pecking order of the NHL. They know who the best players are and how they match up. John Scott is an intelligent man with a family who’s proud of him. For whatever reason(s), the fans spoke and elected Scott to the All Star team, so he BELONGS!
I will be rooting for John Scott this weekend and whenever I see him playing for the rest of his career, which may not be long – Scott is older and enforcer jobs are few and far between in today’s hockey. One thing is certain – this incident has shown that John Scott has much more honor and integrity that the NHL. The NHL doesn’t deserve John Scott.

So, we now know who the participants will be in Super Bowl 50: the Denver Broncos against the Carolina Panthers. This is the second time in club history for the Panthers, who lost Super Bowl XXXVIII to New England 32-29 in Houston in 2004; the Broncos most recently lost to Seattle two years ago to Seattle 43-8. (Note: the Head Coach for both losing teams was current Bears Head Coach John Fox. Curious?)
The Conference championship games were very interesting. First, it was hard to root for either quarterback: Brady of course has “deflate-gate” and the Patriots have the reputation for being cheaters; and now, Peyton Manning has been cited in a performance enhancing drug scandal. Manning seems to be more likable, but with his ownership of numerous Papa John’s franchises, a firm that has earned millions on the backs of minimum wage workers and fights raising the minimum wage, it is hard to be a Manning fane now.
Getting to the game itself, let me admit that I was wrong last week: I thought that the Patriots would trounce the Broncos; but that is because I felt that Tom Brady would outplay Peyton Manning. It turned out that Denver’s defense overpowered New England’s offensive line, so Brady was harassed all day. Still, with the All World tight end Rob Gronkowski catching impossible passes, the Patriots almost sent the game to overtime. With all of the injuries this season to Patriot wide receivers, Gronkowski was the only reliable target Brady had.
On the other side, Manning played acceptably. He didn’t turn the ball over, completing 17 of 32 passes for 176 yards and 2 TDs, but these were the first TD passes he’d thrown at home in over two months. Much of that time he was injured of course, but he had definitely lost velocity on his passes and is a shadow of his former self. I know that he says he would like to play one more season, but with the neck injuries he has sustained and the obvious deterioration in skills, the Super Bowl should be his last game, win or lose.
Meanwhile, perhaps the Panthers are the team of destiny? Arizona was the hottest team in the sport in the middle of December, but the Panthers of course almost went the entire season undefeated. The long grind of an NFL season has taken its toll on many teams over the years; and the NFC title game looked like it could be a very close game between two even teams. But Ron Rivera’s defense and special teams caused seven turnovers leading to a 49-15 stomping.
No longer can we question QB Cam Newton. He is a star in this league and I remain amazed by his shear size – he is huge for a quarterback. Since losing to the Falcons in week 16, they routed the Buccaneers, held off a furious comeback by Seattle in the divisional playoff game and dismantled the Cardinals. The Panthers are the favorites in the Super Bowl. Denver’s defense gives them a chance, but the Panthers are better on offense and equal on defense.
I hope, as always, that we get a good game. If Peyton Manning doesn’t come up big, it may not be too competitive (but at least the Packers and Patriots will be at home.)

A fan of 21st Century sports probably always has the thought of cheating in the back of his/her mind. Be it the very real potential of a played using performance enhancing drugs, or the possibility of a match or point fixing scandal, the integrity of sport is more of a concern then ever. Tennis is at the center of match fixing scandals ever since last week at the start of the Australian Open, when the BBC and BuzzFeed reported that 16 players were repeatedly suspected of throwing matches but the governing bodies did not discipline them.
So, this week a major sports gambling website suspended betting on a mixed doubles match at the Australian Open, raising suspicions of match fixing. Ahead of a first-round match between Lara Arruabarrena and David Marrero versus Andrea Hlavackova and Lukasz Kubot, large amounts of money poured in on a very obscure match according to Marco Blume, head of the sports book at the website, Pinnacle Sports. Nearly all of the money, Blume said, came down for Hlavackova and Kubot, which he said was an indication that the match might be fixed.
Hlavackova and Kubot won, 6-0, 6-3. The first set lasted only 20 minutes.
Arruabarrena, the 33rd-ranked doubles player on the women’s tour, and Marrero, ranked 32nd among men, rejected any possibility of fixing in an interview after the match. Marrero cited a knee injury in explaining their poor performance.
Tennis officials have emphasized that unusual betting patterns alone are not sufficient evidence of match fixing. It is possible, according to them, that someone close to the players could pass inside information, like knowledge of an injury, to professional gamblers, who would then wager accordingly.
Pinnacle suspended betting and then notified police in Victoria, the Australian state where the tournament is held. The tennis governing bodies did a “see no evil, hear no evil” approach. A spokeswoman for the International Tennis Federation said the organization had not been notified of any suspicious activity. She added that such information would first go to the Tennis Integrity Unit, the sport’s internal watchdog. A representative for the Tennis Integrity Unit, said in an email that it would not comment about the match.
Ms. Arruabarrena is 23 years old; Mr. Marrero is 35. Both are from Spain and perhaps near the end of their careers; certainly Mr. Marrero is nearer to the end than the beginning. Is it possible that something illegal was going on? Of course it is. While professional tennis players make a lot of money, what happens if you are near the end of your career, age wise, and you know that you will never be a top 10 player? And, like athletes in all sports, athletes don’t look ahead in life; bad spending habits and little or no saving can lead to the end of high living, and an easy way to make money is to throw a set or match.
One thing is certain – the agencies need to get their acts together in working with the legal bookmakers and local authorities to investigate and prosecute offenders. Sending a player to jail would send a powerful message.

I still believe that Antwaan Randle El was one of the best individual players in Big Ten History. Yes, he played quarterback at Indiana University, a long moribund team always upstaged by the basketball team. But Randall El was a one man show: with no great running back behind him, not a great offensive line, or great receivers, Randle El was a danger to go the distance on every single play. He didn’t play in the NFL as a QB, he was too far ahead of the time of the Cam Newtons and Russell Wilsons of the football world, but he was an excellent wide receiver in the pros. But he’s not too happy about it looking back…
Randle El last played with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2010 after having played in Washington, was interviewed for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (via Jacob Emert of the Washington Post), and he said that he wished he had played baseball coming out of college: “If I could go back, I wouldn’t [play football]. I would play baseball. I got drafted by the Cubs in the 14th round, but I didn’t play baseball because of my parents. They made me go to school. Don’t get me wrong, I love the game of football. But right now, I could still be playing baseball.”
Randle El said there are certain days he walks down stairs “sideways” because of the toll football took on him. More ominous is that the 36 year old receiver has difficulty remembering things:
“I ask my wife things over and over again, and she’s like, ‘I just told you that.’ I’ll ask her three times the night before and get up in the morning and forget. Stuff like that. I try to chalk it up as I’m busy, I’m doing a lot, but I have to be on my knees praying about it, asking God to allow me to not have these issues and live a long life. I want to see my kids raised up. I want to see my grandkids.”
This is life after football, folks. After the rah-rah is over; once the perks are gone; hopefully, there’s some money left, but regardless, the shadow of serious physical illness hangs over every facet of your life. Simple things that we take for granted like playing with children, walking, being about to get out of a chair, are difficulties. Not to mention CTE and brain injuries which have caused dementia, and led to depression and suicide.
I hope for the best for Antwaan Randle El and all former athletes in every sport. Research is being done on CTE; let’s hope there are some positive answers soon on the medical, equipment and prevention fronts. I also wish for better treatment for bones and joints and the rest of retired athletes’ bodies. It is long past time for the NFL, NCAA and the other major leagues to stop throwing their retirees away like yesterday’s trash.

Let’s start with an opinion: professional all star games are worthless wastes of time. They appear to the most casual fan. Former Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig made a ghastly mistake that still hasn’t been rectified – giving World Series home field advantage to the winner of a meaningless travesty.
However, it is an honor for people to be elected to the All Star Game, and the fans do make the selections. Most of the time, the best players get chosen, but sometimes, the ballot box gets stuffed by one team’s fans or one player’s fans to get an average or even worse player into the game. Often it’s for fun or pure “homers,” and sometimes, the leagues involved step in to stop the practice. Occasionally, however, the league goes too far, and this time, it was the blundering moves by the NHL.
First, the NHL knew that the All Star Game was boring and losing viewers, so, to spice up the weekend, the league overhauled the format into a 3-on-3 tournament between divisional teams (which I still don’t completely understand how it will work). In order to get more fan interest, the league opened the fan vote to any player they wished to nominate. While most of the usual suspects, i.e. the best players, got voted in, lots of people started voting for Scott.
The NHL powers weren’t pleased at all. “As long as voting is legitimate, we will honor the results,” deputy commissioner Bill Daly said and reportedly the league stopped promoting the fan vote to quell the rising tide. .
Was it being snarky for lots of people? Of course it was. If John Scott was a good player then voting for him wouldn’t be a story, but Scott is a good fighter and marginal player, so watching him skyrocket to the top of the vote totals was admittedly hilarious. The All-Star Game is completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, and so, of course, it became the target of a joke.
I had written in a post that the fans that voted for Scott were being jerks and weren’t fans of the game, but someone pointed out that some fans voted for Scott to remind the league that fighting still had a place in the game, and how better to send that message to the NHL than by choosing a fighter (I’m not going to use the word “goon”).
It didn’t work – Scott won and not only did he win, but he was announced as an All-Star captain. Then it dawned on a lot of people (myself included) that there’s an actual person at the center of all of this controversy. Even Scott started to warm to the idea. He has two kids and a wife who’s due with twins the weekend of the All-Star Game: he could use the extra money an All Star Game appearance could bring including a shot at splitting $1 million if his team wins the event.
Scott told online site Puck Daddy last week, “It’s one of those things where I never thought I’d be able to get to go, so when I found out it was a possibility my family was like, ‘you have to go. It’s going to be so cool,’ They’re excited for it — probably more excited than I am. It’ll be one of those ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experiences.” So, a joke All-Star vote campaign had become a feel-good story for a hard-working, good guy and his family. Everybody wins.
The NHL got nastier then. Scott was asked by both the NHL and the Arizona Coyotes to bow out of the game. He refused. So, they got the Cardinals to trade Scott to the Montreal Canadians, who immediately sent him to AHL with no plans to call him back up making him ineligible for the All-Star Game. The NHL wanted Scott out of the All-Star Game, and they got their wish.
Family uprooted, experiences and contractual benefits sacrificed days before Scott’s wife gives birth in order to get the egg of the faces of the NHL.
When they saw that more negative publicity was coming from the whole incident, the Commissioner, Gary “Sesame Street’s The Count” Bettman jumped into action. After further review, John Scott will participate in the NHL All-Star Game after all. The league announced that Scott would indeed captain the Pacific Division. In the announcement, the league said “the resultant change in division and Scott’s subsequent assignment to the American Hockey League, created a unique circumstance that required review – the result of which was a determination to maintain the status quo for the All-Star weekend in order to preserve all parties’ pre-existing expectations, including Scott’s desire to participate.”
Scott said in his own statement “I am looking forward to enjoying a fun and unique experience at All-Star Weekend in Nashville with my family. While being voted to the All-Star Game by the fans was not something I expected to happen, I am excited to participate in the All-Star events with my fellow players.”
There is no question that the league will be changing the voting rules for the 2017 All Star Game. The league got some well deserved eggs on their collective faces which is always good to see. But I have to admit that now, I’m much more interested in watching some of it, and I will be rooting for John Scott to have a good time in Nashville and play well. And hope that his wife doesn’t go into labor that weekend.